Zhao Shu walked into the room with this strange feeling. Xie Jin had already put on his clothes and was sitting upright drinking tea.

Zhao Shu looked at him with concern: “What did the doctor say?”

Xie Jin: “Just take more rest, it’s not a big deal.”

Zhao Shu breathed a sigh of relief: “That’s good, that’s good. I was worried that you would spend the rest of your life in a wheelchair.”

Xie Jin almost spit out a mouthful of tea. He took a deep breath and said, “Can you please hope for me to be well?”

Zhao Shu admitted that it was a bit unfair for her to think this way, but since his injury was on his back, it was normal for her to think this way. However, seeing how shocked he was, she still felt a little guilty: “It’s normal for me to worry about you.”

Xie Jin drank the tea in the cup in one gulp: “Thank you!”

Zhao Shu smiled awkwardly: “You’re welcome.”

The two were silent for a moment, and Zhao Shu thought of the doctor’s strange look just now: “Cousin Jin, did you think that doctor just now was a little strange?”

Xie Jin poured her a cup of tea: “What’s strange about that?”

Zhao Shu thought about the doctor’s smile and tried hard to find words to describe it: “That’s right, that’s right, when he came out and saw me, that smile was a little creepy, just like, just like,” Zhao Shu scratched her head and suddenly had an idea: “Just like a matchmaker looking for a young lady!”

Xie Jin’s eyes flashed, and he lowered his head to drink tea to cover up his inner guilt: “Maybe you saw it wrong.”

Zhao Shu said firmly: “Impossible, I must be seeing things!”

Xie Jin lied to her: “All doctors smile like that. As long as the patient is fine, they will smile in an unusual way.”

Zhao Shu began to wonder if she was overthinking it: “Really? But I’ve seen other doctors don’t smile like him.”

Xie Jin continued to lie: “Really? That’s because you have seen few doctors and their medical skills are average. Doctors with good medical skills like this one all smile like him.”

Zhao Shu nodded doubtfully: “Okay.”

The following days were not as thrilling as before. The doctor developed the antidote, and Mi County was slowly recovering.

Zhao Yao and his wife, who had not been seen for a long time, came to Zhao Shu’s yard to inform her of the date of departure for Beijing, and then went to Duan Jingheng’s yard to bid farewell to him. Although Duan Jingheng was a junior, he was the official of Mi County, not to mention that their whole family lived in Duan’s mansion, so it was only right for them to say goodbye before leaving.

Since Zhao Shu was leaving, Xie Jin had no reason to stay here any longer. He told Xie Er to pack up his things and followed Zhao Shu.

Before getting on the carriage, Duan Jingheng gave Zhao Shu a jade hairpin. Zhao Shu didn’t want it at first, but she couldn’t resist the high-sounding words of Duan Jingheng. Duan Jingheng said that if they couldn’t grow old together, they could be half-siblings. This jade hairpin was his gift to his sister.

Since people have said so, it would be a bit ungrateful for Zhao Shu to refuse again. Zhao Shu obediently accepted the gift and called Duan Jingheng “brother”.

Although Duan Jingheng’s face froze after she said “brother”, this did not stop Zhao Shu from pretending not to see it.

The jade hairpin was transparent and moist, and Zhao Shu fell in love with it at first sight. Therefore, on the way back, Zhao Shu pinned the jade hairpin in her hair.

Where there is joy, there is sorrow. As much as Zhao Shu couldn’t let go of this jade hairpin, Xie Jin disliked it as much.

Many times, Xie Jin looked at the jade hairpin on her head in a veiled manner, and she caught him red-handed every time. She didn’t say anything, but just kept the jade hairpin dangling under his nose all day long, so that he could see it but couldn’t touch it, which made him very anxious!
The group entered Shangjing. Xie Jin hurriedly said a few words, told Xie Er to send Zhao Shu back home, and then rode at full speed towards the imperial city.

Zhao Shu lifted the curtain and looked at the back of the horse galloping in the distance. When the back ran out of sight, Zhao Shu turned her head to look at Xie Er who was standing beside the carriage: “Xie Er, is there something urgent in the palace? Why is your master so anxious?”

Hearing this, Xie Er was stunned for a moment, then he said respectfully to Zhao Shu: “Miss, the prince is rushing back to the palace to apologize to His Majesty.”

Zhao Shu’s heart skipped a beat. She had a vague idea in her mind, but she felt that her idea was absurd, so she asked carefully, “Did cousin Jin do something wrong?”

Xie Er glanced at her, and Zhao Shu felt that this look was very meaningful. Before she could figure out what was going on, she heard Xie Er’s serious voice saying, “When the prince went to Mi County to look for you, he was still in confinement.” Xie Er didn’t want to say more, but he couldn’t help but said, “Originally, the prince had one day left before his confinement ended, but when he learned that you were in trouble, he couldn’t wait even a day, no, he couldn’t wait even a moment, and risked being beheaded and disobeyed the order of His Majesty to rush to Mi County to save you.”

Zhao Shu held onto the car window tightly with her hands: “Now that he has entered the palace, how will His Majesty punish him?”

Xie Er said respectfully: “I don’t know!”

Zhao Shu asked unwillingly, “Will Your Majesty really chop off his head?”

Xie Er replied rigidly: “I don’t know about this either.”

Zhao Shu’s heart seemed to be squeezed by a hand, then relaxed, then pressed harder and then relaxed again, and she could not have a moment of peace.

Zhao Shu looked at Xie Er expectantly and asked, “Can you take me into the palace?”

Xie Er was fair and just: “Xie Er is a man of few words, and he doesn’t have the ability to bring a girl into the palace.”

Zhao Shu also felt that her request was a bit excessive, so she made a compromise: “Then can you take me to the palace gate?”

Xie Er did not refuse directly: “But the prince ordered me to take you back home.”

Zhao Shu knew that this request might work, so she immediately said, “I want to go to the palace gate on my own. Cousin Jin won’t blame you.”

Since Zhao Shu said so, Xie Er could no longer refuse. The prince had ordered him to send Miss Shu back home, but he did not say that he could not go somewhere else before Miss Shu returned home.

Zhao Shu asked a servant to go to the carriage in front and ask Zhao Yao and Zhang Lanyin if she could go out for a while. The servant hurried away and came back quickly: “Miss, the Marquis and the Madam said it is possible.”

Zhao Shu didn’t delay any longer and said to Xie Er hurriedly, “Let’s go.”

The two teams separated at a fork in the road. Zhao Yao’s large team turned right, while Xie Er drove a carriage with Zhao Shu in it towards the left.

Xie Jin knelt straight at the gate of the Qianqing Palace. Wang He walked out of the Qianqing Palace, came to Xie Jin and persuaded him gently: “Military Officer Xie Bu should go back first. The emperor is angry now. When the emperor calms down, it won’t be too late for Military Officer Xie Bu to come and apologize.”

Xie Jin raised his head and smiled gently at Wang He: “Eunuch, please don’t worry about me anymore. I am guilty and should kneel here until the emperor is willing to punish me.”

Wang He sighed. The guy inside and the guy outside had the same temper, stubborn!
Wang He saw that he could not persuade people and had to go back to report.

Qin Su looked up from his case: “Have you left?”

Wang He shook his head: “Your Majesty, the person is still kneeling outside.”

Qin Su frowned and put the scroll in his hand heavily on the table: “What is he doing? He is forcing me to deal with him!”

Qin Su thought about Xie Jin’s previous behavior, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He strode down from the table and walked back and forth in the hall: “This stubborn guy, I have to deal with him, right? Well, I will deal with him as he wishes.” Qin Su pointed outside the hall: “Go, bring him in to me, go!”

(End of this chapter)